Council votes to renew permit for shelter in southern B.C. Interior, as locals call for its relocation

Ahead of the winter, a West Kootenay, B.C. council has voted in favour of letting a temporary homeless shelter continue operating with more beds for another year.

However, while some locals support the move, they say the shelter needs to be relocated from the city's downtown core so its residents could get the support they need, and to minimize impact on nearby businesses.

On Monday evening, Trail's city council voted 5-1 to renew the La Nina Extreme Weather Shelter's temporary use permit so it can continue operating with 18 beds for another year.

The shelter on 1456 Bay Ave. is operated by the Career Development Services (CDS), a service provider under the non-profit organization, Trail Association for Community Living.

City staff say CDS used to provide eight beds nightly only from November to March, but since the COVID-19 pandemic began two years ago, the shelter has operated 24/7 throughout the year.

Later, with increased calls from the community to support people experiencing homelessness, council granted CDS a temporary one-year permit to add 10 more beds and basement lockers on Sept. 27, 2021.

Before the permit, the shelter had been operating at full capacity with eight beds, according to CDS.

Neither the province or the city has conducted counts of people living with homelessness in Trail, about 18 kilometres north of the Canada-U.S. border.

But according to data published by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 2021, the community of almost 8,000 residents had its apartment vacancy rate drop from more than 10 per cent in 2012 to less than two per cent in 2018.

City staff say council initially considered a three-year extension for the permit, allowing B.C. Housing enough time to find a permanent location for the shelter outside the downtown core.

But after feedback from local residents, council decided last week to vote on a one-year extension.

Medical support around shelter needed

Dina Esposito, who owns the Esposito Boutique Hotel across the street from the shelter, says she has seen garbage on her property's back alley left by people living with homelessness.

Esposito says while she supports the shelter, she wants it relocated from the downtown area, because the current facility is too small to meet the needs of its residents.

"Perhaps the government [can] step in and assist them and give them what they need to have a beautiful facility, to accommodate them and have them all in one area, where they can have the professional people giving them assistance," Esposito said last week on CBC's Daybreak South.

Carole Dobie, the councillor who voted against permit extension, echoes the need for its relocation, saying the shelter has dealt a serious financial blow to downtown businesses.

"There are about six businesses very close to the shelter that have spent almost $100,000 in order to make their business as safe as possible," Dobie said before the vote.

"[When you] open your business every morning, the first thing you have to do is clean up needles and syringes and defecation — and have that happening right in broad daylight."

Dobie adds that shelters must be near medical clinics and government offices that can provide support to homeless people, some of whom may also struggle with addiction or mental illness.

Diana Daghofer, co-chair of the Trail Community Action Team which advocates for the shelter, says her group and other community members have been working with B.C. Housing for years to find another location outside the downtown area — to no avail.

"They say that they cannot find a location right now, so nothing is on the horizon," she said.

In a written statement to CBC News, B.C. Housing says it is in discussion with the city about a new, potential temporary shelter outside the downtown area, but did not provide a timeline for its availability.